The genetic engineering of cotton provides an outstanding opportunity for the improvement of this crop. the primary problem in developing a useful gene transfer system for cotton has been the difficulty in plant regeneration. however, researchers at plant genetics, inc.,have recently developed a… More

The influence of four tissue culture systems for microtuber induction, development and growth are examined. the literature describes three systems for making microtubers. however, no data has been generated to define the relationship at a physiological level between microtubers and field tubers.… More

Automation of plant tissue culture propagation methods will result in immediate savings to commercial tissue culture la labs across the country and will provide for vegetative propagation of many additional crops. the project will focuson strategies for biological configurations and culture vessel… More

A limitation to the use of plant somatic empbyos as a propagation tool is the germination frequency of embryos into plantlets. for non-endospermous embryos, such as alfalfa or lettuce, the major seed storage proteins accumulate in the cotyledon and hypocotyl axis of zygotic embryo proper. somatic… More

The host-specific toxin produced by the corky root rot causal bacterium provides us with a tool to select the disease-resistant lettuce from a mass population of germplasms. the major objectives of this proposed research are: 1) purify the host-specific toxin. the toxin will be extracted from the… More

This proposal describes research on bioreactor scale up of plant cell culture directed toward plant propagation. in phase i research, we propose to clone a breeder's cross hybrid of celery in a 1 to 4 liter bioreactor. using this system, we propose to identify the importance of agitation, aeration,… More

Coated somatic embryos or "somatic seeds" provide a method to directly deliver plant material from tissue culture to the greenhouse or field without the laborious and expensive step of forming transplants. desiccated somatic seeds would have many advantages over hydrated somatic seeds such as ease… More

The united states potato crop, valued at $1.5 billion, represents 8 percent of a 254 million metric ton world crop. potato cultivar development by traditional methods has been a slow process, frequently requiring more than 10 years and evaluation of as many as a million seedlings. in this proposal,… More